Is there any point to reporting phishing emails?

Anonymous
2022-11-30T17:50:08+00:00

I'm using Outlook.live and I get upwards of 50 phishing emails a day. I report them all... every day. This has been going on for years. I get the same type and look of email even though the sender address constantly changes. Most are just a few block sentences, centered, no frills, that says Congratulations you won..., Click here for your prize..., Click here for this... Click here for that...

Blocking senders is a waste of time. They are always different. I thought Microsoft would be able to block based on content but I'm getting the same stuff over and over... Same stuff I've reported as phishing for years so it doesn't appear that the hundreds of thousands of emails I've reported are being looked at by anyone.

Is there no filtering on Microsoft's side? If there is, why is it not working... if not why report the phishing emails??

sr

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Account management, security, and privacy

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-02-16T15:53:34+00:00

    Yea it’s a personal opinion/ choice.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-02-16T15:38:05+00:00

    I also believe there is a misconception here, by default the spam filter is set to low which includes No automatic filtering. So yes you’ll still get spam if you haven’t changed the setting because the low setting only looks at a few factors to decide if it’s spam or not

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-02-16T14:51:44+00:00

    So the point of reporting them is:

    1.) so Microsoft can learn from the email to help protect you in the future.

    2.) if it is the blackmail scam or extortion scam they can get the correct people involved if they believe a law is being broken or someone is in danger.

    You can do number two yourself if you want to contact the FBI’s cyber team or your local law enforcement.

    So it’s a personal opinion, most of these actors are hard to find or in another country so immediate action won’t be taken.

    We advise our employees to report any suspicious emails this allows us to investigate emails and see if we can get information like (IP address, servers the message went through, if the scammer left any personal email in the data)

    So if you don’t report it “Microsoft will never step up there game” if you do report it, it could help Microsoft get better at spotting spam / phishing emails before they hit your inbox.

    Not sure if this answered your question.

    (If you get a black mail scam don’t pay it go to law enforcement and report it, and ask for help / next steps. If you pay it they know they can keep getting money from you. The items they have won’t get deleted)

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-02-16T14:25:06+00:00

    That's interesting in so far as I understand it, but I can't really see an answer to the question "is there any point ...'

    The general opinion is 'no'. But what about the blackmailing ones? Surely they are criminal, but how should we deal with them?

    (King Gama was a grumpy old man created by W S Gilbert)

    Stephen.

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